…in Sunshine or in shadow… combines several compositional fixations that had captured my attention at various times between 2008 and 2015. The work begins, as too many modern compositions have, with a textural exploration of a single note. Even worse, it’s the tuning A. Regardless, the music spins out by means of aleatoric methods, gradually accreting more mass. The music moves through several harmonic areas, the music becoming gradually more active and unsettled. A burning climax is reached which leads to the heart of the work, a strange choral-like passage. Hidden in a series of 3-note chords in the violin and viola is a heavily disguised Londonderry air, more popularly known in the setting Danny Boy. In the outer ranges of the ensemble, the cello lumbers through a sullen chord-cycle as though Eeyore had suddenly joined the ensemble, while our flutist flits and sputters above. The work concludes in repose with all voices gradually coming to rest.